10/3: The Nash jazz center hosts grand opening in Phoenix

by Ed Masley - Oct. 1, 2012 03:23 PMThe Republic | azcentral.com

When Jazz in AZ was considering locations for the Nash, its newly opened education and performance center, Roosevelt Row seemed an obvious way to meet one of the center's stated goals -- to raise awareness of jazz in the Valley.

As Joel Goldenthal, the organization's executive director, explains, "We strategically located the venue in the arts district of downtown Phoenix, which is a very vibrant, burgeoning community. We're a block from the light rail, which helps make us accessible to a wider population."

The 2,600-square-foot building is right in the heart of the arts district at 110 E. Roosevelt St., a prime location for taking full advantage of First Friday.

"We have now participated in three First Fridays, and we've had 1,500 people at each one of them over a four-hour period," Goldenthal says. "That's 1,500 people that have come in and spent time in the Nash listening to a high-quality jazz group."

Jazz is a serious passion for Goldenthal.

"The availability of jazz," he says, "is a hallmark of all the great cities of our country -- New York, Chicago, San Francisco. And that's what the Nash is about. We do have many extraordinary jazz resources here already, but they haven't been galvanized. So what the Nash is doing is trying to increase the awareness of jazz and build a broader audience while providing performance opportunities for young people."

Those performance opportunities include weekly jam sessions, held every Sunday.

"There is no educational process as powerful as being able to sit and play music with other musicians that are better than you and being schooled by them," Goldenthal says.

"The high schools that do have music programs have big bands," Goldenthal says. "But if you want to have a trio or quartet, there are really no formalized programs at the high-school level.

"Jazz involves communication and respect for other players, listening hard to what other people are doing and interacting. Those are not things that happen in a big-band setting. So we're providing a number of combo-coaching opportunities where student musicians can really develop their jazz sensibilities."

The building officially opened in April, when jazz legend Wynton Marsalis flew in from New York to take part in a workshop attended by 130 fourth- through eighth-grade students.

But this week marks the center's official grand opening.

"We deferred our grand opening until we had more programs in place," Goldenthal says.

On Wednesday, Oct. 3, the Nash's grand-opening concert features drummer Lewis Nash, who was born and raised in South Phoenix, leading an all-star quintet with Cedar Walton on piano, Christian McBride on bass, Russell Malone on guitar and Houston Person on sax.

"Having this group of musicians appearing at the grand opening is such a coup," Goldenthal says. "You're talking about five of the absolute jazz luminaries of our time. Cedar Walton, who is a jazz legend, has never been to Phoenix. Christian McBride is probably the biggest name in jazz bass. And Lewis, as you know, has been dubbed the most valuable player in jazz in the whole world. That's the stature of the people we're dealing with."

Goldenthal is especially effusive when it comes to Nash, for whom the center has been named.

"Every jazz luminary who's been alive the past three decades, Lewis has played with and recorded with," Goldenthal says. "He's that ubiquitous and sought out because of the way he makes other people play. That's why he's been dubbed the most valuable player.

"For Lewis, it's not about being the star. It's about making the music come together. That's why his name is on the building, because there's nobody in the music industry who's more respected for not only his musicianship but for his value as an ambassador for our jazz music worldwide."

Nash says "it's a pretty awesome feeling" to have this sort of center named for him.

"As you probably are aware," he says, "things like that generally happen after someone has either passed on or is later on in years. So I feel very fortunate, blessed, honored, all the adjectives you can think, especially because of the fact that it's something geared toward inspiring young people. That makes it doubly rewarding for me."

Having lived and worked in New York City since the early '90s, Nash says the center that shares his name is "extremely important, not only for Phoenix."

"It could be groundbreaking in the sense that I don't know of any other place across the country that's exactly like this or has the same goals. It has a certain feel to it that I haven't necessarily felt anywhere else."